


God, I'm such an idiot

by wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal



Series: That would be a great love story [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy Ending, Love Confessions, Lucas and Dustin are good friends, M/M, Mike Wheeler Angst, Mike works at the video store, Mutual Pining, Robin and Steve help Mike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24547372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal/pseuds/wandering_soul_with_a_writing_goal
Summary: Why the hell would you write that? What did you even write, anyway?Mike was the kind of person who could pour their heart out, proofread it eight times, then send it and forget what kind of bullshit he poured out on the page. And panic about it.But he’d never done something like this before.It was easy to hide behind a mask of anonymity. Write on the cards, put them in his locker between classes, easy peasy. He could just watch Will open them from afar, and imagine that Will was smiling about him, not whatever girl he thought was giving him the notes.
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Series: That would be a great love story [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772929
Comments: 8
Kudos: 98





	God, I'm such an idiot

**Friday**

Mike was pacing around his room, heart racing. His hands were shaking, his palms were sweating, and his mind was buzzing with anxious thoughts. Mostly  _ Why the hell would you do that? You are such an idiot! He’s going to hate you forever! _ He gave up trying to push the thoughts away, because he deserved it. And he was just thinking logically, anyway.

_ Why the hell would you write that? What did you even write, anyway? _ Mike was the kind of person who could pour their heart out, proofread it eight times, then send it and forget what kind of bullshit he poured out on the page. And panic about it.

But he’d never done something like this before.

It was easy to hide behind a mask of anonymity. Write on the cards, put them in his locker between classes, easy peasy. He could just  _ watch _ Will open them from afar, and imagine that Will was smiling about him, not whatever girl he thought was giving him the notes.

Luckily, Mike had given him the last, signed note on a Friday, so that he could avoid his best friend for at least two days. Mike also decided to work double shifts at the video store so that he could be away from home as much as possible.

Right now it was 11:57 on Friday night. Sleep seemed impossible. After countless minutes pacing, then sitting, then pacing some more, he was finally able to calm his mind (by reading Tolkien) and fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

**Saturday**

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Stupid freaking alarm.

Ugh. 8:00. Mike woke up feeling anxious, and it took him only a few seconds to realize why. 

_ Shit. _ He really  _ was _ an idiot, wasn’t he. At least, his brain kept reminding him of that every two seconds as he rolled out of bed, brushed his teeth, combed his chaotic mess of hair, changed into something presentable, and finally left for the video store.

He came inside, clocked in, and found Steve in the back room, who greeted him with a “Hey, man” and tossed him a can of soda. New Coke. Yuck.

Mike tried to look as indifferent as he possibly could, but something about being in the company of other people made it impossible.

Steve must have noticed something, because he got up and closed the door before sitting back in his chair, waiting patiently for Mike to talk.

And talk he did. Mike must have been rambling for ten whole minutes. Steve already knew about Mike’s hopeless crush on Will Byers, but this was the first he heard about the notes, and the new signed note, and all of Mike’s worries and hopes and speculations about it.

“Now he probably hates me. God, I’m such an idiot.” Steve waited for more, but the boy seemed to be done talking for now. So, he spoke up.

“Mike… You’re way overthinking this, dude. So, you poured out your feelings and shit. I think that’s great! Way better than keeping them locked in a bottle.”

Mike, who’d been pacing in the video room, finally sat down. “Really?”

Steve nodded, glad that the troubled kid was getting it. “Yeah, really. One time I… Well, I liked this girl, and I told her how I felt. And she told me she didn’t like me--”

“And now she hates you with a passion,” Mike finished gloomily.

“No, of course not. We’re still great friends. Best friends, actually.” The door opened. “Here she is now.”

Mike whipped around to see Robin entering the room, clearly annoyed that the two were blowing off work. “You dinguses need to get out there. There’s a group of edgy teens, and I don’t know how to tell them that they can’t buy R rated movies.”

“Chill out, Robin. Mike’s having a crisis here.”

“Again, Wheeler? I thought we agreed that you could only do that on weekdays.”

“It’s  _ not _ a crisis!” Mike was quick to defend. Robin and Steve both raised their eyebrows. He groaned. “It’s complicated.”

Robin finally noticed the panic in the boy’s eyes and sighed. “Steve, go take my place. I’ll deal with this. It’s not the first time I’ve had to deal with a Wheeler.”

Steve left, closing the door with a click.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mike had no clue what she was talking about.

Robin seemed surprised. “Have you  _ met _ your sister?” When there was no response, she shook her head and sighed. “Well, anyway. What’s up?” She took a seat in the chair Steve had been in.

“Well, I…” It was harder to talk to Robin. He wasn’t as close to her, and so he didn’t exactly want to spill out his deepest secrets to her. But looking at her expression, full of caring, patience, and understanding, was enough for him to decide to trust her.

“I… sort of gave these notes to this… person. Like, anonymously. But yesterday I gave him-- I mean, I sort of…” he mumbled the last three words… “signed the note.”

She sat pondering for a few seconds before asking, “Does this have anything to do with one William Byers?”

He choked, turning red. “How did you--”

“Mike, who do you think has had to deal with him gushing about all of those notes? Every time he gets one he comes in here and flips out about it! I swear, that when that kid is hyped up, he talks almost as much as you.”

Mike was baffled. He sat with his mouth open, trying to process it.

“So, yeah. I wouldn’t be too worried.”

He groaned. In the back of his head there had been this  _ tiny _ hope that maybe,  _ maybe _ he hadn’t gotten any of the notes. Maybe they’d gotten lost in his locker or disappeared or… or  _ something _ . Well, Robin had just crushed that.

_ Click _ . Steve opened the door, looking at Mike awkwardly.

Robin spoke for him. “Spit it out, Harrington.”

He cleared his throat. “Um, Mike… He’s here.”

_ No. No, no no.  _ His eyes widened with panic. Of course this was the first place he’d look. How could Mike be such an idiot?

“Don’t tell him I’m here!” Mike was already standing, looking for somewhere in the room to hide, even if the chances of Will coming into the back room were slim to none.

“Mike, dude, I think you should just get it over with.” Steve was trying to help, Mike could tell. But no. He wasn’t ready.

“Not today,” was all he said as he climbed under the table. He heard a click as Robin left the room.

A minute passed. Two. Soon, it had been five minutes. His muscles were starting to ache.  _ What the hell am I doing? Like, what the hell? _

After an indefinite amount of time, Robin came back in the room. “You can get back up now, Mike.” He rolled his eyes at her mocking tone and crawled back out. He stood to see Robin with a smirk on her face.

“What?” He didn’t really want to know, but he couldn’t stand not knowing what was making her smile like that.

“Oh, he just went on a whole-ass rant about a, um, note.”

_ Oh god oh god oh god-- _

“Well? What the hell do I do? Is he gone? What did he say?” A big part of him just wanted to climb back under the table and avoid all of this.

Avoiding all his other questions, Robin replied, “Yeah, he’s gone. Now, get your ass out here and start working, Michael.”

Groaning internally, he quickly left the room, partially to get as far away from Robin as possible. She would definitely mock him and right now, Mike Wheeler was sick of it.

* * *

**Sunday**

Today, Mike wasn’t awoken by a beeping alarm, but by the impossible light streaming through the curtains. His first thought was  _ Ugh, stupid light, let me sleep. _ His second thought was spoken aloud.

“Shit, my alarm!”

He looked at the digital clock on his desk.  _ 10:35 _ . Oh shit. Mike should have been at the video store. He should have been there an hour and a half ago.

Mike heard footsteps getting closed. His mom opened his door, smiling. “Hey, Mike. Did you sleep good?”

“Mom, I’m late to work!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Steve called me; he told me that Keith was filling in for you today.”

“ _ What?” _

“Yeah, he said you’ve been overworking yourself, and you should take a day to be with your friends.” She sat on his bed. “I’m really proud of you, Mike. You’ve been working hard.”

But Mike knew better. He shouldn’t have blabbed to Steve and Robin. He should have guessed that they’d do something. They were the master conspirators. He only wondered what else their plan had in store.

His mom didn’t need to know this, though. So, he smiled as realistically as he could and nodded. “Yeah, I guess a day off will be nice.”

She smiled warmly, kissed his head, and left the room, telling him that there were pancakes for breakfast if he wanted them.

Mike couldn’t even think about eating.

As he got dressed and brushed his teeth, he put together a new plan. Robin and Steve may have stopped him from hiding in the Video Store, but they wouldn’t get the best of him. There was a whole town, and if he was biking, there was no chance he’d bump into Will.

But that plan was murdered when Mike sprinted down the stairs to be greeted by his father saying, “Oh, by the way, Mike, your bike is being worked on right now. They’re gonna finally fix that squeaky handlebar.”

_ No! _ This was not supposed to be happening! There was no way his video store coworkers had done this, but part of him couldn’t help wondering. They’d infiltrated a Russian base. Why would they stop at sending a mechanic to work on his bike?

It didn’t matter how. All that mattered was that he needed a new plan.

Mike shoveled down his pancakes as fast as he could without making himself sick. “Oh my god, you are disgusting,” Nancy said, rolling her eyes.

He washed it down with a glass of water and set off for Lucas’s. He couldn’t bike, but Lucas lived close enough to walk there. Or, as Mike planned to do, run.

Mike was panting as he stood at Lucas’s door and rang the doorbell.

_ Man, _ he really needed to get some exercise.

“Mike?”

“Hey Lucas,” he managed between breaths.

“What the hell did you do, run a marathon?”

Mike rolled his eyes. His breath was finally slowing, so he spoke. “Just let me in, man. We need to talk.”

Lucas, obviously confused, let Mike in. They went to Lucas’s room, and he checked his closet, under his bed, and in a few other places for Erica. When he determined it was all clear, Lucas shut the door.

“Well?”

Mike did not have a clue how to start. It was easy to talk to Steve, who could care less about who he liked, as he was bi himself. But as far as Lucas knew, Mike was straight. Should he lie and say it’s a girl? No. But if he didn’t say names at all, Lucas would put the pieces together.

So Mike decided to just tell the truth.

“I’m the secret admirer.”

At first Lucas didn’t get it. “Huh? You’re a secret admirer? To who?”

“Will.” Something about saying that filled Mike with relief. Lucas would probably hate him now, but at least it was out there. No more secrets. He closed his eyes, waiting to be yelled at. But nothing happened. He opened them.

Mike could see the realization dawning on Lucas. “Wait, actually? That makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.”

“So… you’re not mad?”

“No, of course not! Just mad that I didn’t put it together sooner. I’m sure Dustin would have figured it out. Shit.”

“Lucas, we have a bigger issue here.”

“Right. Sorry. So, you’ve been giving Will those notes. Anonymously, right? So, what’s the issue?”

Mike sighed. “I… kinda signed the last one.”

Lucas looked stunned. “Oh shit.”

Mike pressed his lips together. “Yeah.  _ Oh shit. _ ”

“So, what happened? What did he say?”

“Nothing. I haven’t seen him yet. I don’t  _ plan _ to. That’s why I’m here.”

Lucas sighed. “Mike, have you ever considered just… confronting things?”

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“What do you mean? I  _ do _ confront things!”

“I’m not talking about things like fighting monsters. I’m talking about running from your feelings.”

Excuse you, Lucas!

“I do  _ not _ run from…” Mike was starting to realize that he  _ did _ run from his feelings.

A sound of static. “Lucas, this is Dustin, do you copy? Over.”

Lucas retrieved the radio from his backpack. “I copy. What’s up? Over.”

“I have Will here.”  _ Shit.  _ “He’s looking for Mike. Have you seen him? He’s not at his house. Over.”

Mike sent Lucas a warning stare.  _ Don’t you dare. _

“Yeah, he’s over here.” Lucas! “He says he can meet Will at Castle Byers in ten. Over.”

“LUCAS! I DID NOT SAY THAT!”

Dustin spoke again. “Okay, I’ll tell him. Over and out.”

The radio clicked off.

“Why the hell would you do that?!” Oh god. This was bad. This was really bad. Couldn’t they understand that he needed a goddamn break? Why was everyone plotting against him?

Lucas just asked, “Are you going?”

What a stupid question. Of course he was going. He was not going to be the one to let Will down. The only question was  _ how _ … 

Lucas seemed to read his mind. “You can take my bike,” he said with a supportive look. “But I’ll need it back by 1.”

Mike simply nodded. The two boys said goodbye and Mike set off to his certain doom.

\-----

The air was cool and refreshing in the woods. Mike had parked Lucas’s bike near the edge of the woods, and now he was walking through the forest to the place he’d been many times, getting more hesitant with every step. His path to Will’s fort was ingrained in his muscle memory so that he didn’t even have to think about where to step or which branches to duck under.

Instead, his mind was running through every possible scenario in his head.  _ Either he’s going to yell at me, calmly let me down, or… Well, he’s not going to accept it, either way. _

He froze in his tracks when he saw the wooden structure of Castle Byers, only twenty feet away.

If he was going to back out, now was the time.

For possibly the first time in his life, Mike didn’t run. He needed to prove Lucas and everyone wrong, and, well, get this over with.

So, he got closer. Step by step.

Finally, he reached the entrance. Will wasn’t there yet. If he was coming at all.

_ Idiot. Of course he’s coming. He’s the one who wanted to see you, remember? _

Rustling. A twig crunched. Mike looked up to see a certain adorable brunette.

Emphasis on adorable. Will wore jeans and a T-shirt that was just slightly oversized and fit him in the most perfect way. His cheeks were flushed from the cold and his hair was just slightly tousled up. Mike felt like he was about to explode.

_ Can’t you see?  _ He wanted to say.  _ This is why I gave you the notes. You look amazing. _

But he kept his mouth shut.

Will saw Mike, and froze.  _ Shit. He hates me. _

But it only lasted a second.

Will reached into his pocket and pulled something out. A blue post-it. He walked over to Mike and handed it to him.

It had one word on it.

_ Yes. _

What?

“You… asked me to the dance. Right?”

Yeah, he did.

“So… there’s my answer.”

No. No way. This was a joke. A prank.

But Will’s face showed no sign of it. He looked at Mike the same way he always did, with those wide, caring eyes, and soft smile. When Mike didn’t respond, the smile faded.

Well, he’d better speak.

“Actually?” He managed. He had to force the sounds out of his mouth. He really,  _ really _ wanted to believe it. He wanted this so bad that it hurt.

It was like they were both holding their breath. There was a tense silence. Will nodded.

The tension was cut. Mike could breathe again.

“But… why?” Why would Will agree to this? He could do so much better than Mike.

Will reached into his other pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He held it out, then took it back, then handed it to Mike.

He unfolded it quickly but carefully. Was it a note?

It wasn’t a note.

It was a drawing.

A drawing of him.

Will spoke in a trembling voice. “I… I drew that… A while ago. I guess that I’ve… I’ve felt like this for a long time.” His voice broke in the last sentence.

Before Mike knew what he was doing he pulled Will into a hug. Something he hadn’t done in far too long. Will must have felt it too, because they held each other so tightly that Mike wondered if he could ever let go.

He didn’t ever want to. All he wanted was to stand there, hugging the boy he was in love with, making sure this boy knew how goddamn special he was.

Well… now that didn’t have to just be a fantasy.

“Hey, Will?” he said quietly.

A second. “Yeah?”

“I…” he didn’t know what he was going to say. He knew what he  _ wanted _ to say.

He was going to say it.

“I…” He almost chickened out at the last second. No. He was saying this.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

He could feel Will’s breath catch, and suddenly Mike was filled with regret. Why the hell did he have to do that? Why did he spill his guts? Why, why, why--

“Me too. I mean… I’m in love with… you.”

They broke apart but still stood close too each other, looking in each other’s eyes.

Then Mike spoke. His brain wasn’t really even connected to his mouth anymore. “Hey, do you wanna, I mean… can I kiss you?” He blurted out. Will turned red. “I mean, if you’re cool with it, I mean I’ve liked you for forever and if you actually like me back…” he trailed off as Will leaned in and their lips and hearts finally met.

The kiss filled Mike with warmth. The tension and the anxiety and the overthinking and everything stopped, replaced with love. And Will was a good kisser-- where the hell did he learn that?

They broke apart, both blushing. Will spoke. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

So had Mike. They’d both needed this for so, so long. It took them a while. It took Mike a while to accept his own feelings. But they were there now. They were there, and that was all that mattered.   


“Well, if you want, we can do it… more.” That came out wrong. “I mean… do you want to… be my boyfriend?”

Will smiled so widely, and the cuteness of it shot through Mike’s heart, making him blush. It had to be illegal to look that adorable.

“Yeah, Mike. I’d love that.”

And they shared another look, both smiling, brighter and brighter.

And nothing could ever put the light out.


End file.
